The tongue of the wise brings healing.
—Proverbs 12:18
The Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, was dedicated on November 19, 1863. Featured speaker, Edward Everett, a former congressman, governor, and president of Harvard, opened the ceremony with a two-hour speech.
President Abraham Lincoln followed Everett, with a two-minute speech. His words helped heal the bruised spirit of a nation divided by civil war. To this day—contrary to his prediction that “The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here”—Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address continues to help and heal. That’s good leadership.
Words need not be many to be meaningful. It was a wise homiletics professor who advised his preacher students: “Be sincere. Be brief. Be seated.”
Jesus gave his disciples a model prayer. It is the most-quoted prayer in history—consisting of only fifty-two words (NIV). It, too, continues to help and heal.
Words hurt or heal.